


Hannibal: Book of Circus

by Bzzee



Category: Hannibal (TV), Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Era, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Hannibal (TV) Season/Series 01, Hannibal Lecter is the Chesapeake Ripper, kin culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:48:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27808585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bzzee/pseuds/Bzzee
Summary: When Will needs a hobby to distract him, Jack recommends the anime Black Butler. He should have considered the dangers of exposing these characters to an empath.orWill Graham is Ciel Phantomhive kin and won't stop speaking in Black Butler quotes, but at least it helps him find the Chesapeake Ripper.
Relationships: Will Graham & Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Hannibal: Book of Circus

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place during Season 1, episodes 4-8.  
> The Japanease is taken from the Black Butler Season 3 opener, Enamel by SID.

“Are you okay to keep doing this, Will?” Jack’s voice was low.

“You ask that like I have the option to quit,” Will said with a short laugh. “Alana told me that I should get a hobby, so my mind can at least take a break from everything. But the only hobby I have is fishing, and now even when I do that I just see all this,” he gestured vaguely at the body on the table.

“I have an idea,” Jack said, opening his briefcase. “Here, Bella and I just finished it. You might like it.” He handed Will a DVD case.

“Black Butler Season 1?” Will asked, trying to figure out if it was a joke. The cover showed two cartoon characters, a small boy with hair covering his face holding a chain connected to a man in a suit behind him. The suited man had black wings stretching behind them.

“Yeah, Bella was always a fan of anime. This one was pretty good, I didn’t even fall asleep during any of it. Give it a watch, it might help you take your mind off everything.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

* * *

Two nights later, and Will woke from another nightmare. A fresh layer of sweat and a fresh image of him slicing Abigail’s throat. He showered off the sweat but it still felt like Abigail’s blood was sticking to him. He wasn’t getting any more sleep tonight. His thoughts drifted to the DVD Jack had given him. He might as well give it a try.

* * *

“I started watching this TV show, an anime I guess,” Will said, almost embarrassed to tell Hannibal, who seemed like he would prefer a night at the opera to a childrens show.

Hannibal gave him a gentle smile. “Fiction can be a healthy way to escape reality. It can also act as a mirror to help us see ourselves.”

“Funny that you say that,” Will said. “The main character, Ciel, I really feel like I identify with him.” He shook his head and laughed. “Which is stupid. He’s a thirteen year old Victorian Earl who sold his soul to a demon.”

“Well in some ways you yourself made a deal with the devil, when Jack Crawford asked you to work on his cases.”

“I suppose. But I don’t see Jack as the devil.” Will trailed his eyes up and down Hannibal. “If anything, _you_ remind me of Sebastian.”

“I would hate to think my therapy is so bad that you think of me as a demon, Will.”

“No, no,” Will said quickly. “It’s not that. It’s more in the way you carry yourself. You always seem distinguished and…in control. And he cooks too, so that’s probably why my mind went there.”

“You haven’t let me cook you a proper meal yet.”

Will shifted in his chair. “This show is almost been distracting me from the case, which is strange. I know, I know, distractions can be good, but I should be focusing on finding the lost boys.”

“Maybe you’re letting yourself be distracted from the case because you identify with the missing boys. Tell me about your childhood, Will.”

“I was born to end up alone,” Will said.

* * *

The case was solved, people were safe for now. Will’s head was still full of visions of mangled bodies, but he could deal with it. He had tried to bring up Black Butler to Jack—he wanted to talk about it with someone else who had seen it—but Jack seemed distracted about something. “Keep the DVD as long as you’d like,” Jack had said, brushing him off.

He rewatched every episode, even Season 2, but it didn’t feel like enough. Visions of Ciel and Sebastian, both so corrupt and evil in their own ways, living out this complicated dance, swirled in his mind, but Sebastian’s face often switched with Hannibal’s. It was stupid, he knew. Hannibal was no monster, not like Sebastian. But he wanted more, infinitely more than the three seasons and a movie could provide.

He opened Google and typed “Black Butler” not really sure what he was looking for. He scrolled past the top results, and eventually clicked on a link from Devianart. It was a picture of Ciel eating a red cake that seemed to be oozing blood. Sebastian was standing beside him, cutting another piece of the cake with an oversized knife. The art style was different from the anime, it seemed darker, richer. It was weird to think of other people in the world taking the time to draw these two characters, but for some reason Will wanted to see more. He clicked on the person’s profile. The bio said “for everything *ciel phantomhive* follow me on tumblr” with a link. Will clicked it.

* * *

“I’m so glad you finally took me up on my offer for dinner, Will.” Hannibal said. Will sat at the table, patiently. He had offered to help Hannibal bring in the food from the kitchen, but found himself just a little pleased when Hannibal insisted he be served.

“Jack wouldn’t shut up about the last dessert you made, and I couldn’t resist any longer.”

“I didn’t take you to be someone with a sweet tooth,” Hannibal said, setting the plate in front of Will.

“Normally I don’t, but recently I’ve been…craving something.”

“Well I made sure to prepare you a special dessert tonight. But first, the main course.” Hannibal set his own plate down and sat. “Langue d'agneau en papillottes served with a sauce of duxelles and oyster mushrooms.”

“Wow,” Will said. “I feel underdressed.” For a moment, his eyes flashed an image of him wearing a pink dress and petticoats. He let out a small cough.

“I prefer you come as you are.” Hannibal watched, waiting for him to take the first bite. When Will finally lifted the fork to his mouth, he took a sip of red wine, satisfied. “Tell me, how have you been?”

“Well, I made a blog,” Will said.

“Taking after our Miss Freddie Lounds, are we?” Hannibal said in mild surprise.

“No, no, not that kind of blog.” Will took another bite, chewing a little as he spoke. “It’s a Tumblr blog. It’s stupid really, it’s just a place for me to think about that TV show. Well it’s not just a show, there's a manga too which is even better. But Ciel, Ciel just…he consumes me in a way. Have you ever heard the word kin?”

“You think of this Ciel character as family, Will?”

“No, no, not that meaning of… No. I should stop. We’re having a nice dinner. I just haven't socialized in a long time. The only other thing I have to talk about is murder, which hardly seems like proper table talk.”

“A little gore with dinner never bothered me.” Hannibal seemed to pause to share a joke with himself. “I saw a little about your case, the angel maker. Horrific. How have you been handling it?”

“I’ve been discovering that,” Will took a deep breath, “that I prefer to have my nightmares with open eyes.”

“So you’re fully embracing your role as Jack’s monster catcher,” Hannibal said.

“That title seems too noble for what I do.”

“You’re a hero, Will. Catching killers, serving justice.”

“Serving justice? Isn’t that a bit of stretch?” Will said. “I’m helping people I suppose, but justice in this world is just a bunch of principles, made by those with power to suit themselves.”

“You’re sounding a bit like an anarchist, Will. Don’t worry, I won’t tell the FBI.”

“Not an anarchist, no, I’ve just given up good and evil for…behaviorism.”

When Hannibal brought out the cake for dessert, Will felt—for the first time in what must be a long time—utterly delighted.

“Victorian sponge cake topped with Sanguinaccio dolce.”

When the delicacy sat in front of him, Will lifted his fork and said, “ _Dakara hayaku isshin furan oborete goran_.”

“Forgive me, my Japanese is fairly rusty. I haven’t had much use for it since my youth. Did I catch the word _indulge_?”

“Hurry, let us indulge ourselves _. Kairaku e to yami e to rasen kaidan_. The spiral staircase leads the way to pleasure, to darkness.”

“A fine toast.” Hannibal raised his glass. “Let us hope that tonight contained more pleasure than darkness.” Their glasses clinked. “Sanguinaccio dolce is traditionally made with pig’s blood, but I’m afraid tonight we had to substitute for cow.”

“Even your desserts aren’t vegetarian,” Will said. As he looked across the table, the form seemed to flicker between Hannibal and Sebastian, his brown eyes and Sebastian’s glowing red. Will shook his head. The comparisons were stretching too far. Surely he was only thinking it because of the fancy dinner Hannibal served him. “You must have a good relationship with your butcher."

Hannibal smiled. "We're practically kin."

* * *

“Will, talk to me, please.” Alana stood in entryway of the lecture hall. “I’m worried about you.”

“You should keep your distance from me,” _if you want to live_ , he left out. “My place is in the shadows, yours in the light. We walk opposite paths, Aberline.”

“What did you call me?” Alana asked. She walked up to Will, sitting at the desk. She gently reached her hand to his face. “Will, I feel like you’re slipping somewhere dark. I think you need a break, I think you need to step away from all of this.” He tilted his head up to her, and she looked in his eyes. “Whenever I see you recently, it looks like you’re in pain.”

“Pain tends to heal as time passes, but maybe I don’t want time to heal my wounds,” Will pulled his face away from her hand and stood up. He began to pack up his things. “You may think you’ve escaped the pain, but that’s nothing more than stagnation. You can’t move forward without pain.”

“Will, I found your blog." Her tone was harsher. "I think you need to take a break from the murder _and_ from the cartoons.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.” He tried to leave, but she blocked his path. “I don’t see what the _anime_ has to do with all this.”

“I just don’t know what Jack was thinking, giving a character like that to an empath. Why couldn’t he lend you My Hero Academia?”

“Goodnight, Alana.” Will pushed past her and hurried away.

* * *

Will knew he should be focusing on the cellist’s case, but his brain kept returning to the Chesapeake Ripper’s most recent murder. The scene replayed constantly in his mind, but he felt like he was missing one piece, the thing that would tie everything together. He must have gone through the motions a hundred times until he finally caught a glimpse in a mirror. Usually when he played out the murders, he saw himself (where he saw himself he often saw Ciel, but that was another issue.) But this time, he saw Sebastian, his red eyes glowing. And then it all made sense. Every copycat killer, every Chesapeake murder, a vast spiderweb neatly woven, and there was one person, one demon, who tied it all together: Hannibal Lector.

* * *

Will showed up right as Hannibal brought the statue down on Tobias’s head. Franklyn lay dead on the floor a few feet away. Hannibal looked up at him, panting. He did not look at Tobias, bleeding out on the floor, but instead stared directly at Will.

“Is that the music shop owner?” Will asked.

“Yes.”

“So he was the one who killed the trombonist.”

“It appears so. He came in and killed my client Franklyn. I only wish I could have stopped him.”

“I’m arrogant, but not so much that I’d irresponsibly save someone just to brag about it,” Will said.

Will walked fully into the room now and stepped over Tobias’s body, closing the space between him and Hannibal. “I understand it all now. I understand who you are. And I understand who I am.”

“And who are you, Will?”

“I’m a killer.” Will took a deep inhale, and for a moment it seemed like he might let out a sob. But instead, he laughed. “All these demons that I catch for Jack,” he could barely talk through his laughter, it was coming out in fits, “I’m just like them. I’m full of the same ugliness they were.”

Hannibal eyed him cautiously until his laughter died down. “And what is it you want from me?”

“I’m not exactly sure yet. But I think together, we could be something.”

“And how will I trust you? How will I know that you aren’t just playing another of Jack’s games, that you aren’t just trying to get me to confess to these things you seem to think that I’ve done?”

“Have you ever cooked an eye?” Will kept his voice casual as he searched Hannibal’s face for a reaction. “I was thinking I could do with one less." The laughter still lingered in his voice. "We could blame that on Tobias too.”

“That’s quite a step. You seem eager to make a deal with the devil.”

“If we are to die one day, wouldn’t it be better to have no regrets?”

Hannibal walked over to his desk and picked up a sharp, silver letter opener. He toyed with it in his hands, keeping his eyes fixed on Will. “You forsake the future, sacrifice your dreams, while stained with deep despair, elude the past, fight the reality, and never relinquish your nobility.” Hannibal flashed a smile. “That is a soul I wish to consume.”

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't watched Black Butler in years, but the idea possessed me. The parallels are too strong, that silly little empath would have no choice but to kin Ciel.


End file.
